Bears Eat Berries

Laura Wentzel, Bears Eat Berries, has a delightful aesthetic that is classic and clean yet playful and irreverent. Like other designers in this collection, she has mastered illustrating animal creatures in their simplest form and still infuses them with liveliness. Her adorable Thank You Walrus is a perfect example. Longtime members will remember her ‘Hi’ hedgehog card and lovely little lemons thank you card.

• Where did the name of your studio come from?

  As a kid, my family loved to camp and my sister and I always sang a song that went “… bears eat berries, they don’t eat people…” It’s a very whimsical memory from my childhood, but my love for nature and animals finds its way into my designs, so borrowing those lyrics felt like a great match for my business. In my designs I tend to portray animals (like bears) as being huggable and cute… but let’s be real, when I’m camping I do carry bear spray with me!

• Who is on your team, and how did you come together?

  I am a one-woman show whose only co-worker is a lazy dog who lays by my side every day in my studio. Though I value my network of designers who inspire me, it’s me who is designing every design, printing every card and wraps every package. When you get a handwritten note in your Bears Eat Berries package, know that it was written by me.

• How did you get into design and letterpress printing?

  After finishing school in graphic design, I worked a few years with companies in design positions doing mostly web work. When doing the traditional 9-5, I always day-dreamed about running my own show. It all started to get serious when my friends and family started getting hitched. They asked me to design their invitations and after a few projects for friends I fell in love with print design all over again. Long story short, in my never-ending quest for beautiful, tangible products, I discovered letterpress printing. At that time, letterpress wasn’t as popular as it is today so I searched high and low for a press and found one a state away. I drove up to an old print shop in upstate New York, bought the press without knowing how to use it, and taught myself the trade in my garage. Though I still do lots of letterpress projects, my business has evolved to include more custom design and branding projects.

• Where do you find inspiration for your designs?

  I love simplicity and I love nature. I pull inspiration from children’s picture books, and I find inspiration in both traditional and modern Japanese design. I am currently inspired by Charley Harper and how he depicted nature in a modern way. He captured the characteristics of his animals by stripping out the unnecessary and leaving only their essence. That’s something I try to emulate in my work.

• Which press was used to print the Nicely Noted cards?

  Your Bears Eat Berries Nicely Noted cards came off my Chandler & Price, from my home studio in Arizona.

Featured In These Collections:

Creatures